1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to information technology and more particularly to systems and methods for detecting indicators of authenticity and origin of goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
The counterfeiting of branded and trademarked goods is a serious concern to many manufacturers and resellers of branded and trademarked goods. The financial incentive to intentionally traffic in counterfeit goods generally increases with the degree of regard that the consumer market places on a brand. Premium brands are thus more attractive to counterfeit and are sold at prices that more likely enable the original manufacturer or brand owner to deploy counter measures to counterfeiting.
The prior art includes adding encoded product identifiers to individual items offered for sale. These product identifiers may be visually presented on tags attached to the associated items, and/or in electronic registers, such as radio frequency identification devices. Electronic communications networks, including telephony networks and the Internet, are applied in the prior art to enable parties to compare product identifiers associated with goods-in-hand with registrations of valid product identifiers,
The retail sales agent is generally relied upon to confirm that a given item is authentically sourced as indicated by the visually displayed trademarks and brand markings of items in inventory and offered for dale. Yet the retail sales agent is often burdened with many tasks, and runs operations that have slim margins beyond the cost of goods sold. The capacity of a retail sales agent to expend time and resources is assuring that items that appear to be genuine are in fact counterfeit can be reduced by the dynamics of the inventory management. And the motivation of a retail sales agent to determine the authenticity of an item at the moment that a potential purchaser is examining the item or has selected an item for purchase, and thereby potentially lose a clear and present sales opportunity, can be impaired by the fear of losing sales revenue.
The distribution of cellular telephones and network-enabled mobile communications devices has increased tremendously and nearly contemporaneously during both the deployment of radio frequency identification devices in consumer goods and the provision of internet-based access to product identification databases. Many models of smart phones, such as the IPHONE 5™ cellular telephone marketed by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., include hardware circuitry and software circuitry that enable the instant consumer communications device to read bar codes and quick response codes. Portable communications devices that read information by means of radio wave communication with radio frequency identification devices are also available in the consumer market, such as the Scanfob™ NFC-BB2 bar code, quick response code and RFID reader device marketed by the Serialio.com company of Cedar Park, Tex.
Yet the prior art fails to optimally encourage consumers themselves to provide purported indicia of authenticity via the Internet or telephony networks for the purpose of detection of counterfeit markings of goods.
There is therefore a long felt need to enable potential purchasers of consumer goods to collect and report information associated with items for sale and to support the detection of false markings of items for sale.